


Story Telling is Good for the Soul

by Blue_Jay



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Apocalypse - Mentioned, Canonical Character Death, Demonic Possession, Demons, Episode: s06e16 And Then There Were None, Gen, Gossip, Hunting, Lack of Character Death, Monsters, Sam Winchester's Wall, Season/Series 06, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 21:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Jay/pseuds/Blue_Jay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen finds out you can learn a lot from demons or monsters and Sam and Dean are scarier than she thought. Too bad Samuel doesn't listen to good advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Story Telling is Good for the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Just watched And Then There Were None again and was reminded how much of a dick Samuel was and how he kept Gwen in the dark.
> 
> Also, I felt really said that Gwen died. She was there for like two episodes but I really liked her.

After Christian got possessed and supposedly the Winchester boys died, hunting's changed from a full family to just her and Samuel. Half the time Gwen isn't entirely sure she likes the man, but she wants to keep hunting, can't stand the idea of doing it on her own because it's not like she's suicidal, and even if Sam and Dean weren't dead, she's not sure she could ever deal with the little brother again. Went without a soul apparently (she learned that from Dean, not gossip) and honestly, she'd sure like meet him with one but she's not sure you can do that. Replace a soul, that is, though she's not entirely positive how a man can lose his to begin with.

Then comes the demon.

Neither she nor Samuel painted the devil's trap on the floor, but it's there and the demon - in the form of a teenage girl who doesn't wear make-up and dresses like a boy but is still pretty in her own way - gets stuck anyway. It throws itself at them because it isn't cornered, obviously intending to get them by a trick, but slams back against an invisible force. Gwen blinks, confused, before nudging off the rug and revealing the ward; when Samuel sees it, he smiles.

"Well, look at that," he says, crossing his arms in a way she's learned means satisfaction. "Someone did the job before we did."

With a literal snarl, the demon answers, "Fucking Winchesters."

That even gets Samuel to pause, the exorcism not started by either in surprise. "Excuse me?" Gwen asks and wonders how you could tell from just a drawn trap.

In reply, she gets a scoff. "Did you really think I was running from  _you_ , little girl? Or maybe from you, Samuel Campbell. Heard talk you're whoring yourself out for your baby Mary instead of your wife. Wonder what that says about a man."

The statement makes Gwen uncomfortable, but it's a subject she doesn't try hard to think about because it's awkward enough knowing he came back from the dead. And Sam, but at least Sam ended up messy. Samuel doesn't react. "Won't have much time thinking on it," he says, straightening his shoulders a little and she gets ready to say the exorcism. Her pronunciation is better, even if neither will say it, and that means this became her job pretty early on.

The demon goes to say something (it's probably smug and sarcastic because that seems like a default setting; she'd never seen a demon in her life until Sam came along), but suddenly freezes, which throws her off again. Suddenly, it flings itself at the edge again, hand's pressed flat like a mime, and looks terrified. What the fuck?

"What are you  _doing?_ " it says, face twisted with something she can only describe as desperation. "Hurry the fuck up, you useless bitch."

"You want to go back to Hell?" she says, still thrown off enough to make her unsure. Demons lie, everyone knows that. 

"Just get me out. Fire and brimstone are a huge step up the Winchesters, so  _hurry the fuck up._ "

But she knows Sam and Dean, and even in that whacked out soulless state, she can't figure out how in god's name the two of them are worse than Hell. Worse enough to warrant a demon begging to be sent back. Samuel looks down at her in exasperation and she rattles off the exorcism because that's easier than thinking.

Once it's gone, Samuel grabs her upper arm and drags her away without a word.

 

 

Apparently that one demon isn't the only thing afraid. Monsters are pretty freaked out too.

Two weeks later and they're taking out a nest in Texas. Samuel's on the other side of the warehouse, having refused to let her take on the head herself, and she's working on the final underling. The man's shoved into the corner, twice her size and as scared looking as the rest of them. Gwen thinks these guys must be on the younger end not to be afraid of hunters.

And boy, is she wrong. 

The monster says, in a horrified voice, that she smells of Sam Winchester. For half a second she's confused before she remembers there was that one time Sam bled on this shirt. She ignores the vampire, even if she wants to ask more, and raises her knife.

It grabs her wrist, faster than normal for a freshly turned. "Listen to me, hunter," he says and doesn't struggle when she tries to force her arm down far enough to cut his throat, "you need to run. Just run and keep on running."

When she overpowers him and hacks off his head, it feels too easy. She leaves with Samuel five minutes later and tries to ignore her disquiet.

 

 

No monster, demon, or other hunter seems to know the Winchester died and she's starting to doubt Samuel's certainty on the matter. One day they try a bar that's become something of a hangout for their wayward community and enter as the small group of twelve currently acting as patrons toast the two boys and a few others whose names she doesn't recognize.

As they set themselves up near the bar, she asks to the man next to her, "What's going on?"

He seems relieved and she realizes pretty much everyone looks about the same. "Just found out Sam and Dean are going after whoever's making the all the monster's crazier than usual," he answers, running his fingers through his hair. "Half the goddamn circuit is celebrating today. Damn good reason for it."

Samuel, as usual, is unimpressed. By this point she's had three monsters and two demons tell her not to get tangled with the two of them. "Last I heard, they're dead," he says. "And even if they weren't, they're just hunters. Don't see a reason to get all excited."

Everyone in the bar is gapping at them. Gwen's just embarrassed. "How outdated is your info, man?" the bartender asks, putting down the glass he's cleaning. "Those two even know  _how_ to die like proper folk."

"Saw 'em myself not a week ago," another man says, nodding to the two of them. "Killed three demons. Doesn’t even phase them."

"And they're more than 'just hunters,'" a woman tells them, ignoring the two shots she has in front of her. "They ended the damn Apocalypse."

And then it gets crazy. 

"Sam killed Satan himself -"

"Topside again -"

"Better than their -"

"Dumb not to be relieved, I -"

"Swear on my mother's grave that -"

And then, the last and clearest statement: "Just remember not to fuck with them."

Right after a man comes in, pushing open the door like some sort of cowboy wanna-be. A few people greet him ("Hey, Billy, how'ya doing?") and after taking a quick look around, he asks if he missed it but doesn't say what. Someone says he did, claps him on the shoulder, and he pays the bartender for two beers. After that, the talking quiets, switches to something else entirely that she can't really follow and doesn't care too.

She and Samuel stay half an hour to drink before leaving. He's seething obviously, so she doesn't say anything, just slips into the passenger's seat and stares out the window. And her curiosity's been growing for a damn long time but this is it for her. She hopes to Hell or God or whoever's in charge of this bullshit that she gets to see Sam again - all re-souled and new.

They don't talk for half a day.

 

 

One Tuesday, Samuel gets sick and after two hours of arguing, she finally gets him to stick in bed. Unfortunately, he can't leave anything well enough alone for another hunter to get to, so she's sent off to hunt a demon. By herself.

Yippee.

The demon's got her cornered, eyes pitch black and taunting and Gwen's got duct tape over her mouth, which she already knew was going to happen. She considers herself a good hunter, but not a  _great_ hunter. It leans in close, grabbing onto her shirt. It's also smirking. Sometimes she really hates her job. Still, it's the family business, so here she is, about to die at the hands of a demon because her reborn great uncle is doesn't know how to bite his pride. All she can really hope is that it makes her death quick.

But suddenly it freezes, finger on the trigger and gun raised and Gwen just dodged a bullet - kind of literally. Then, "See'ya later, kiddo," and smokes out, which leaves her stuck here, in a chair, with tape over her mouth until someone comes along and rescues her. 

Said rescuer turns out to be the demon's host. He looks exhausted when he regains consciousness a moment after his body became his own again, but forces himself up anyway to untie the rope. She pulls the duct tape off her mouth and says thanks. The host shrugs and says, "You were the one planning on getting her out of me. It's the least I can do."

She frowns. "But I  _didn't_ get it out," she says, standing up and rubbing her wrists. Her lips feel raw. Dad used to tell her stories of his second grade teacher doing the same thing because he talked too much. "Do you have any idea why it left or were you still asleep?"

"Got scared 'cause some guys named Sam and Dean just got to town," he answers dully and she finds that she really isn't surprised. She asks if he needs a ride home or to the hospital. Normally hosts are a lot more freaked out than this, so he must not've been possessed long enough to murder someone. "Yeah, thanks. That'd be great."

So she drives him home and he invites her inside for a drink of gratitude. Normally she'd decline but she's alone and just got saved by two people who weren't even there yet so sure, why not? They eat cheese and crackers and drink beer as she explains what hunting is. She doesn't ask about the Winchesters and he doesn't add anything. They sleep together too even though she'd not usually a one night stand kind of girl, and she makes it back to Samuel at two in the morning, hair still wet from the shower. Thankfully he's asleep so she can crash without explaining what happened.

Next morning she sees a notice on the AOL homepage, some chick killed mid-murder attempt by an attacker the survivor never got to see. Stabbed in the back, it says, and she knows the demon who went after her wasn't the only one in town. Again, she doesn't tell Samuel.

 

 

By the time the trapped demon gives the rant about the Winchesters and their politics instead of answering the questions Samuel asked, Gwen finds herself sighing, resigned, instead of being surprised. 

"How about you ask little Sammy?" the demon snaps, crossing its arms and scowling. "He was  _supposed_ to rule Hell but  _no_ , he and his brother to all righteous and imitate  _good_ and we've been stuck with this mess ever since. You know how much it sucks when the leader of Hell keeps on switching like this? Azazel, Lilith, Lucifer, Crowley - should've stuck with Lucifer but that damn Sam Winchester just ruined everything  _again._ "

Oh god, she's getting a headache. "We know," she says, hoping Samuel will just give up because this is getting annoying. 

"Where's Eve?" 

Rolling its eyes, the demon answers, "I'm not exactly a monster, you ignorant dick. If you want answers, ask fucking Sam and Dean, they're the ones neck deep in that shit - us, angels, monsters. They're practically politicians. You want to let me go yet - fucking asshole!" She wants to point out that it seems to be telling the truth, but she's learned that’s a lost cause. Then it smirks. "Or maybe you don't want to ask them because you're  _afraid_. That's it, isn't it, old man? Afraid because you know one little man can't take on the failed Boy King and Alistair's final student. Sammy's got his soul again, you know, all buttoned up neat and clean because big brother and a guardian angel. Pinocchio’s a real - hey!"

"I don't care about the Winchesters," Samuel says, fed up and Gwen just wants to get out of here. "Tell us about Eve."

"She's Purgatory's Lucifer," says the demon. "That's all I know. Now quit it with the holy water and let me out."

Feeling awkward, Gwen finally points out that it's probably telling the truth. Samuel glances back and forth between the two of them before giving her permission to start the exorcism. Before she starts, though, she needs to ask one more question. "How'd you know Sam got his soul back?"

Samuel looks down at her with exasperation. " _Every_ demon knows about his soul," the demon answers. "It's so twisted and destroyed even Hell doesn't want it."

If she thought she was unsettled before, it's nothing compared to now. Right before she finishes the exorcism, breaking Samuel's promise, the demon screams out that she hopes the Winchesters boys give them what they deserve. Gwen thinks that maybe it's time she stops hunting.

 

 

"Maybe they're right," she says one day after a fairy tells Samuel he can't scare her - not after she's dealt with “the Winchesters and their angel” and he's spent the entire rest of the day muttering about how everyone exaggerates Sam and Dean's importance or skill. "I mean, we've been hearing about them a lot."

Samuel waves his hand dismissively but doesn't look at her. "Being an urban legend doesn't make the rumors true," he says irritably and she doesn't mention that she started hunting in the middle of the Apocalypse and how demons have gone from practically worshiping the ground Sam Winchester walks on to now being terrified. She'd kept her head down and stayed out of normal hunter haunts so she didn't hear much, but there was enough that she knows this isn't a joke.

"Yeah, but these aren't just hunters getting drunk and spewing stories," she answers even though she generally tries not to argue. "I'm just saying maybe we shouldn't be so harsh on them."

He raises an eyebrow and she almost sighs again. Maybe she should've hooked up with a girl to hunt with instead of keeping it with the family. Sounds safer and less annoying. "We spent a year with Sam. He's damn good for a hunter, but he's not the best one out there."

You just want that title to yourself, she thinks, but instead says, "He's got his soul back though - and Dean. Samuel, they ended the  _Apocalypse_. Maybe if we just accept that, demons will stop ranting about how stupid we are."

She isn't particularly surprised when Samuel disagrees. 

Gwen's entire life as dissolved into a giant headache.

 

 

Then here are the Winchesters along with two people she doesn't recognize and Dean's got a gun to Samuel's head. She thinks it says something about the past two months that she's completely unsurprised. Or how massively disappointing it is that Sam doesn't seem to recognize her at all.

Dean says something like "Welcome to next time" and Sam jumps in front of him, forcing him to lower the gun, with, "No, no, no - hold on!"

"I said I'd kill him."

Oh. So  _that's_ why Samuel is so set on claiming their skill level's exaggerated. She has a feeling she should jump to his defense too but it seems like it's a better idea for Sam to get a handle on it. He tells his brother to wait just a second and Dean does. One of the men with the Winchesters says, "I take it you know each other."

"He's our grandfather."

The man is unimpressed. "Oh, someone needs a hug."

And the other man asks, "Why are you here?" in a tone that implies he actually knows who Samuel is. A headache. All this past year and a half has been is a headache.

"We're working," Samuel answers and Gwen decides it's in her best interest to hang back for now. Family or not, if shots are fired she's out of here, fully ready to let Sam and Dean clean up this mess. "You?"

"None of your damn business," Dean snaps and she lets out a sigh that no one notices. 

Baseball Hat Man doesn't take his eyes off Samuel when he says, "Sam, take Dean for a walk."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Look, Dean, it's fine." Yeah, she's been in the room with the two of them for about three minutes and she can already see how drastically different Sam is from the last time they saw each other. Dean asks how and Sam pushes him back, out the door. She glances in their direction and can't help but wonder if they're discussing murder methods at the moment. All those demons and monsters said to get away when they still could and as much as she wanted to see them again, she's starting to get the feeling maybe they were all right.

A moment later Sam reenters without his brother, looking completely miserable. Even his eyes seem warmer. "So," says Baseball Hat Man, "you're Samuel."

"You must be the guy pretending to be their father." Like you tried so hard, she thinks to herself, and is slightly relieved she can put a name to a face now at least. Bobby Singer. Both brothers had mentioned him more than once. 

She expects Singer to snap or at least be offended because Samuel tends to do that to people, but instead gets, "Well, somebody ought to." She's next to her great uncle again, having moved almost subconsciously because as much as he tends to freak her out, everyone else in the room is that tenfold. Even tired and re-souled, she gets the feeling Sam could kill both of them just as quick as Dean if he had to.

Samuel doesn't make eye contact with his youngest grandson. "Sam. You're looking well."

"Save the small talk, all right?" he answers.

"You seem different." No shit, so much for being perceptive.

Sam's eyes squint into a glare, some of that warmth gone. "I've got my soul back. No thanks to you, I hear." 

"You hear? You don't remember." It's not a question. Again Gwen can't help but thinking that was relatively obvious. She might not be the most noticeable person in the world, but getting zero recognition from the guy you spent a year with? Yeah, that's pretty telling.

"I remember enough."

First, still unknown man, says, "I really hate to break up this circle of love, but why don't we talk shop, huh? How about you tell us what it is you're hunting."

So Samuel does. Neither Singer nor Sam looks surprised and she remembers how many people and things stressed that fact that  _Sam and Dean are hunting Eve_ because it turns out that's a very big deal. She thinks how he should remember that too and maybe it makes more sense to be standing on the  _other_ side. As scary as they are, she thinks maybe they'll decrease the severity of her headache.

Singer asks how he knows all this. "You don't known half the things I know, kid," he answers which is awkward because the two of them don't look much older than each other. "Hell, until recently you didn't even know about us." 

"I now know you'd feed your own kin in hungry ghouls."

Finally, this gets her to be surprised. All Samuel ever does is harp on the importance of family, so why can she totally imagine him doing this? She looks to him, wanting to hear otherwise because she's been travelling with him for a year and a half and that's pretty fucked up. "You what?"

Too quickly to be true, he says, "Dean lied to the man."

Singer finally switches his attention. "How about you ask Dean?"

Already she believes it, but she needs to hear the story for herself. "Good idea."

She's out the door before they can say anything else and a minute or so later finally catches up to Dean. He looks tense. Getting your grandfather to feed you to a few monsters will do that to a person, she supposes. When she says his name and asks if it's true, he turns. "What?" he says, hands shoved in his pocket.

"Did Samuel really try to -"

"Kill me?" God, she really hopes she doesn't have to hear an in-detail description. She was already dumb enough to eat right before they got here. She nods and he continues, "Yes. He didn't even  _blink._ That's the guy you're rolling with."

"He didn't tell me anything about that," she answers but thinks that on some level she must've known because Samuel was so convinced that they were dead. "I didn't know."

He sighs. "I know," he says and something in the way he stands suddenly changes in a way she sees with possession victims. Shit. "Honestly there's something I need to tell you too." 

Then there's a gun, followed by nothing but white noise and darkness.

  
  


  
  


Three days later Sam and Dean sign her out of the hospital. Samuel's dead, that guy whose name she never got is dead, and Singer's signed out too. Something to do with electrocution. Both brothers look like someone ran them over and left them on the side of the road. At one point Dean described Sam as being a puppy in human form and this is the first time she sees it. She wonders, in her half-drugged, half-numb state how'd she be without a soul. 

Dean asks her how she's feeling. "Like someone shot me two inches above the hip," she answers bluntly and instantly feels bad because of how guilty he looks. "Sorry. Just cranky. I know you were possessed." She doesn't mention it, but she also knows on a certain level he overpowered it because she's seen his aim and it's dead on. 

"It's, uh - yeah," he says lamely. "I'm really, really sorry."

The atmosphere is awkward. Singer's in the backseat of their car, head against the window with his eyes closed. She can't imagine electrocution is fun. Or getting shot in the head. Or doing the shooting in the head. It takes her all of a minute to decides she likes New Sam. "It's fine," she says again. "Really."

Though he looks like he wants to say something else, his brother cuts in and says, "You have any idea what you're going to do now?"

"Uh, still in the figuring stage of that," she answers. "Maybe go back to Minnesota. I don't think I'm going to keep hunting."

Sam smiles, small and a little said. "Got too crazy for you?"

She nods. "A little," she says and neglects to mention she's just sick of stuff ranting about the two of them. Normal hunting was fine, back when monsters would run from a knife and try to act sassy before she offed them rather than tell her stuff about her cousins and confuse her too much to do the killing fast enough. "Anyway, I'm really sorry about Samuel. If he'd told me, I never would've gone along with him."

"You don't know," Dean says. "Can't expect anything different. We can give you a ride somewhere if you want."

They give her a ride to Aberdeen, Minnesota after she gives a call to an old friend who's been offering up the roommate option for years. As it turns out, they aren't nearly as scary as they were when Sam didn't have a soul or even when they encountered Samuel last time and actively try to include her in the conversation, especially once Bobby drifts off. Her side hurts like a bitch but she can deal and she finds that Sam is actually  _bizarrely_ sweet and it doesn't seem put upon for her benefit. She also notices Dean pulls the conversation in another direction every time it seems to touch on the last year which means something about that amnesia must be dangerous. By the end of the hour and a half drive, she really does hope that nothing worse happens to him. 

Once they drop her off, she says, "I want you to keep in touch. Sam, you still have my number?"

"New phone," he answers and she hands over hers. Both he and Dean add their contact information and promise to call after the whole mess with Eve is over and done with.

They leave on good terms and Gwen bows out of hunting with Ally greeting her with open arms. 

 

 

After Eve is defeated, it takes Dean two weeks to call and let her know. He doesn't say why there was a delay. She knows without needing to be told that something bad's going on with his brother.

The only other times they call are to tell her they aren't really serial killers and, later, to stick to a diet of fruit and water. 

She never finds out what happened to Sam.


End file.
